EasyOS Kirkstone-series 5.2.4
EasyOS was created in 2017, derived from Quirky Linux,
which in turn was derived from Puppy Linux in 2013. Easy
is built in woofQ, which takes as input binary packages
from any distribution, and uses them on top of the unique
EasyOS infrastructure.
Throughout 2020, the official release for x86_64 PCs was
the Buster-series, built with Debian 10.x Buster DEBs.
EasyOS has also been built with packages compiled from
source, using a fork of OpenEmbedded (OE). Currently, the
Kirkstone release of OE has been used, to compile binary
packages for x86_64.
Earlier releases of EasyOS compiled in OE are the
Dunfell-series and before that the Pyro-series. They have
also been compiled for aarch64 and EasyOS runs on the
Raspberry Pi4.
The last release of the x86_64 Dunfell-series was January
10, 2023, version 4.5.5. The announcement and release
notes are here:
https://bkhome.org/news/202301/easyos-dunfell-series-version-455-released.html
The version number is for EasyOS itself, independent of
the target hardware; that is, the infrastructure,
support-glue, system scripts and system management and
configuration applications.
The latest version is becoming mature, though Easy is an
experimental distribution and some parts are under
development and are still considered as beta-quality.
However, you will find this distro to be a very pleasant
surprise, or so we hope.
4.99 release notes
Version 4.99 is a Release Candidate for 5.0. Here are
relevant blog posts:
- mount-img
asks read-only or read-write — February 18, 2023
- The
langpack PETs are gone — February 17, 2023
- The
next-generation MoManager — February 16, 2023
- Enhanced
auto-translated local help — February 14, 2023
- Continuing
internationalization integrated into easy.sfs —
February 13, 2023
- easy.sfs
internationalized, langpack PETs abandoned —
February 10, 2023
- Fix
for Firefox getting deleted when SFS layers change
— February 08, 2023
- FF
download improved — February 06, 2023
- Chromium
bumped, more pkgs compiled in OE — February 05,
2023
- Escaping
characters in translation strings in initrd —
January 25, 2023
- xloadimage
and xserver-fb added to Kirkstone build — January
23, 2023
- Bringing
back run GTK apps in the initrd — January 23, 2023
- First
bootup 2-letter language asked in initrd — January
13, 2023
- Automatic
translation added to MoManager — January 08, 2023
- Started
developing automatic language translation —
January 06, 2023
- gcc
problem in Kirkstone-series — December 25, 2022
- Meta-quirky
Kirkstone git repository created — December 20,
2022
- Kirkstone-series
packages rolled back and forward — December 07,
2022
- EasyOS
advancing to Kirkstone-series — December 05, 2022
In a nutshell, packages are compiled in the Kirkstone
release of OpenEmbedded, and EasyOS now has international
translations builtin, langpack PETs no longer used, nor
are there separate per-language builds.
4.101 release notes
Lots of bug fixes.
5.0 release notes
This is it, version 5.0-final, the official start of the
Kirkstone-series. More bug fixes, tweaks and some updates:
5.1 release notes
The big news is the "AppImage Installer".
5.1.1 release notes
Some small but important bug fixes. One package bump,
AppImage Installer improvements.
5.2 release notes
A complete recompile in OE and more AppImage Installer
improvements:
5.2.1 release notes
Significant improvements to Appi, the AppImage Installer,
and integration of the three package managers.
5.2.2 release notes
The big news is support for installing Flatpaks.
- Preventing
proliferation of dbus-daemon instances — April 15,
2023
- Maybe
fix monitor VertRefresh range — April 15, 2023
- Flatpak
does not work with ext4 folder encryption — April
10, 2023
- Empty
folders not recognized by git — April 09, 2023
- Package
manager tutorial updated — April 08, 2023
- Package
manager wrapper improved — April 08, 2023
- AppImage
Installer update fix — April 08, 2023
- Flatpak
Installer — April 07, 2023
- Flatpak
compiled in OE — April 06, 2023
- gnupg
signed-key-pair created in initrd — April 05, 2023
- Always
ask for root password at first bootup — April 05,
2023
- gnupg1
static compile in OE — April 05, 2023
- fr
and ru translation updates — April 04, 2023
...wow, as usual a feverish pace of development.
5.2.3 release notes
Fantastic rationalization of the "app" and "setup"
desktop icons.
5.2.4 release notes
Version 5.2.4 is identical to 5.2.3, except for script
/usr/local/easy_version/easy-update. The reason is
explained here:
You do not need to update to 5.2.4. For any earlier
release in the Kirkstone-series (5.0+), download the
script, remove the ".gz" off the end (it is not really
compressed) and replace the script at
/usr/local/easy_version/easy-update. The script is here:
https://distro.ibiblio.org/easyos/amd64/releases/kirkstone/2023/5.2.4/easy-update.gz
Then wait for Easy 5.3 to be released, which will have
the new fscrypt v2. Then, when you click on the "update"
icon, it will run the new script.
If you boot Easy without a password, then this change in
fscrypt won't affect you. You won't need the new script,
can just update when 5.3 is released.
Or, if you boot without a password, but would like to
change to encrypted folders, then install the new script,
and you will get the opportunity to enter a password at
first bootup after the update to 5.3.
If you are new to EasyOS, recommend that you wait for
version 5.3.
About EasyOS
Why would you choose EasyOS
instead of some other Linux distribution?
For a quick overview of how EasyOS is different from
other Linux distributions, read this:
https://easyos.org/about/how-and-why-easyos-is-different.html
You will notice that the download is quite small, yet
contains just about every application you would ever need,
such as Firefox|Chromium browser, LibreOffice, Gimp, Dia,
Inkscape, Planner, Homebank, Osmo, NoteCase, Celluloid and
Audacious. There are powerful system managers, such as
NetworkManager, EasyContainers, EasyVersionControl and
BluePup.
BluePup for example, is a bluetooth manager, unique to
EasyOS. Another unique tool is 'easydd', a GUI or CLI tool
for writing an image file to SD-card or USB-stick.
Links
Website: https://easyos.org/
News: https://bkhome.org/news
Forum: https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewforum.php?f=63
We are very grateful to Ibiblio for hosting
EasyOS, right from the start:
https://distro.ibiblio.org/easyos/amd64/releases/dunfell/
EasyOS has one mirror of ibiblio.org, thanks to NLUUG,
here:
https://ftp.nluug.nl/os/Linux/distr/easyos/
Legal statement: https://easyos.org/about/legal-disclaimers-miscellania.html
|